The Conclave

The Ordos Majoris - Hobby, Painting and Modelling => Inquisitor Game Discussion => Topic started by: SiderosPeltarion on October 05, 2019, 09:34:04 AM

Title: Recongregator warband of Inquisitor Balthasar
Post by: SiderosPeltarion on October 05, 2019, 09:34:04 AM
Hi everyone!

As I mentioned in my first thread I have been working towards my first warband and I have been drafting up their bio over the last week or so.  Below is what I have so far, they have already gone through a fair few changes and no doubt I will develop more aspects of them in the coming months as I refine them further.  However you can see my general concepts of the characters and aspects of their history, personality and goals I think in here.  Feel free to critique and suggest steps I could take them in. 

Although I have created D&D characters before I never went to this depth with them, and only ever had to create one character at a time, not needing to think how four characters work together, so this is something new to me. As i mentioned there are aspects of each of the characters I want to develop further, however I thought now would be a good time to post them so I can check they are heading in a good direction first.

In terms of stats etc I used the creating a monster document from Exterminatus as a guide, combined with the original White Dwarf article.  Power level is not someting I am able to judge too well at this point, having not played Inquisitor properly before so if things need adjusting feel free to say, I am happy to nerf if needed, this is just what the rolls came back with for the most part. I say for the most part as I have already done some nerfing where either stats or kit came out either too powerful or not matching my character concept.

Balthasar Alvius
Balthasar is a young Inquisitor of the Ordo Sicarius.  As a follower of the Recongregator philosophy, he works behind the scenes on Imperial worlds toppling corrupt and stagnant regimes. Some inquisitors, particularly those of an Amalathian persuasion, may see Balthasar's methods and those of others like him as an abuse of power.  However the Recongregators have a strong presence within the ordo which affords Balthasar better protection and more allies than he might have enjoyed in one of the other ordos.

Assassination, sabotage and planting of sometimes false evidence are among the chief methods Balthasar uses to achieve his aims.  To achieve this Balthasar has built a small retinue of specialists to enable him to complete his goals to help save the Imperium from stagnation and decline. Balthasar is accompanied by the assassin Orla Bloodfang, a former death cultist, Tobok Ortys the bounty hunter and the Magos Biologis Arvold Solantor.

Balthasar is a fairly powerful telepath, able to detect the presence of nearby people by sensing surface thoughts and emotions as well as being able to read into the minds of his enemies and access information they wish to keep hidden, making it an excellent tool for interrogation and information gathering, with some combat uses.  Balthasar can also speak to his team telepathically and his final ability is being able to project his will into his enemies and get them to act as he wishes for short periods of time, very useful for getting emplaced enemies out of cover or turning their weapons on their friends.

Balthasar studied under the venerable Inquisitor Cosius Modon as his interrogator after graduating from the Scholastica Psykana. Cosius made great use of Bathasar's telepathic powers to help sway crowds and gain information from unwilling parties. After Balthasar's instrumental involvement in the military coup on the planet Osorix Cosius had Balthasar promoted to full Inquisitor status. He allowed two of his acolytes, the assassin Orla Bloodfang and the bounty hunter Tobok Ortys to accompany Balthasar as the start of his new retinue. Balthasar still maintains contact with Cosius and is ever ready to support his old mentor should he be called upon to do so or perform missions on his behalf.

In the eight years since Balthasar and his team have run long term operations on Vaxarilia and Yumiea. On Vaxarilia a religious uprising they orchestrated led to a crusade purging the world of its heretical rulers and clearing the system of their taint and corruption. On Yumiea Balthasar made use of the Arbites to falsely implicate the ruling dynasty's heirs in the assassination of the planet's governor after their six hundred year rule had led to stagnation and economic depression on the world. The governor's replacement from the Praxatea family has since been very active in trying to solve the planet's issues, leading new initiatives focusing on military recruitment into the Imperial Guard and PDF as well new factory complexes to equip them and generate jobs.

On operations Balthasar works behind the scenes for the most part, never coming into public view but acts as an advisor to potential rival factions that he believes would be better equipped to run the planets he visits. Posing as a noble from the garden world of Azuno III, he mingles with the aristocracy or political elite on the premise of visiting to generate trade deals and other such cover stories. His telepathic abilities come in very useful in this area as he is able to detect the thoughts of those he is dealing with, quickly identifying the ambitious and intelligent individuals who meet his needs. When it comes to assassination missions Balthasar is able to make use of his connections with the elite and Arvold's hacking abilities to discover the movements of his targets as well as the layouts of their buildings and security measures. With Orla and Tobok they are then able to set up ambushes and assassinations. In these missions Balthasar is able to use his powers to detect enemies, direct his allies and sometimes bring their target into the open or send their guards away enough to make an opening. Orla and Tobok make a fearsome focal point for their operations and attacks with Orla trained to stealthily infiltrate and take out targets up close and Tobok able to offer accurate suppressing fire to enable her to close with the enemy. Arvold's affinity for cogitators and machines also come in useful as he is able to override security systems, and even on occasion appeal to the machine spirits of enemy equipment to reduce incoming fire. Avold's Biologis training is also useful for treating injuries to the team or preventing premature death to targets Balthasar wishes to interrogate further.

Once Balthasar has saved a planet's future, as he sees it, he and his team will linger on the planet and assist in transition of power, removing obstacles and persuading other to support the movement. Only after he is satisfied the new movement is secure and moving in the right direction is he prepared to move on. On both Vaxarilia and Yumiea the new ruling parties have so far maintained their momenteum, however Balthasar has no loyalty to the individuals he elevates and would not hesitate to return to these worlds should he hear of a return to the old ways. Being only 39 standard years old, Balthasar is young by the standards of most Inquisitors and is full of zeal that the only way to save the Imperium is to prevent stagnation and to promote religious zeal and military development in order to defend against the ever growing threats the Imperium faces. As yet he has not been seriously challenged in his belief, in part because he tends to avoid entanglements with Inquisitors of opposing views such as the Amalathians who would view his methods as abhorrent, or the Monodominants who would likely hate him simply for being a psyker. However Balthasar still maintains contact with Inquisitor Cosius and other like minded recongregators, passing on leads and suggestions of new planets to visit.

As a psyker Balthasar was taken from his homeworld Azuno III as a young child to train in the Scholastica Psykana on Terra.  Initially earmarked to become an astropath over the years Balthasar's more varied psychic talents, charisma and initiative in classes brought him to the attention of the recruiters of the Inquisition.  After graduating Balthasar was assigned to Cosius, in part due to him also being a psyker.  Balthasar was part of Cosius' retinue for twelve years, learning the intricate and hidden ways of an Ordo Sicarius inquisitor of the Recongregator philosophy.  It was Cosius who educated Balthasar on the problems facing the Imperium and how Recongregation was the true route to the Imperium's salvation.

Having spent many years on Terra Balthasar lost his old common accent and developed a more educated and refined style of both speech and dress.  He was well educated by the Scholastica Psykana and Cosius and has learned much about the more refined aspects of the Imperium's culture, as well as that of his home world and neighbouring systems so as to better pose as a noble when operating under cover. 

Although himself refined, he enjoys the company of the lesser members of Imperial society, taking great pleasure in the humour of Tobok Ortys in particular.  Balthasar has a more purely professional relationship with Orla by comparison, with her being much quieter by comparison.  However Balthasar greatly appreciates her abilities and understands her importance to his team.  Arvold's very logical nature makes him a more practical member of Balthasar's team rather than sharing a true friendship.  It is more mutual benefit, intellectual interest and duty to the Imperium and the Mechanicus that keeps Arvold within Balthasar's team in an arrangement that they are both very satisfied with to date.

Class           WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld
Inquisitor   61   47   56   55   66   82   70   79   87
Skills                           
Leader, Detection, Mind Scan, Enforce Will, Telepathy                           
Equipment                           
Stubber with ten dumdums, power sword, carapace armour on legs, chest and groin, flak armour on arms and abdomen                           

Orla Bloodfang
Orla Bloodfang was raised by the death cult Shadowed Blade on the planet Donov III.  Taken in as an orphan, as most members of the cult are, Orla was raised and trained by the cult.  She learned the way of the blade and how to kill silently and unseen.  The cult taught her to avoid emotional attachments to others that might endanger the mission, which has left her more emotionally detached from others, including Balthasar's team.  Over the years of working under Balthasar and Cosius the only person Orla has grown truly close to is Tobok Ortys, and even then her time in the cult has made it difficult for her to maintain a normal, stable relationship with him.  Indeed they spend as much time separated as together these days and the times they are together are not filled with typically romantic gestures or acts, certainly not from Orla.

The cult of the Shadowed Blade has a graduation or coming of age ceremony when its members reach eighteen.  They must go out into the planet's underhive and kill a certain named target.  This target is never a simple individual man but a far more worthy target.  Sometimes they are a particularly famous crime lord or gang leader, usually someone either individually very powerful and difficult to kill or someone with underlings to protect them.  Orla was assigned to kill an underhive bounty hunter Varanath Phogus.  Varanath was famous in the underhive as a tough and strong bounty hunter, recognisable by the terrifying mask he wore at all times.  The cult's patrons had discovered that Varanath was actually a mutant and that the reason he wore a mask was to hide his mouth which was filled with rows of razor sharp teeth, along with other minor corruptions of his flesh.  Orla hunted down Varanath and ambushed him in the underhive while he was himself out on a mission.  Orla was able to take him by surprise, but was not able to instantly kill him and engaged in a fight with him, eventually thrusting her sword through his throat. Seeking proof that it was her who killed Varanath and not his quarry Orla took several of his blood smeared teeth back with her.  Succeeding in her mission the masters of the cult named her Orla Bloodfang, praising her and her achievement.

As with many death cults the Shadowed Blade did not come about on its own and it was in fact set up by its long term patrons.  The Ordo Sicarius believes cults such as these are perfect training schools for assassins to take into their service and has long recruited members of these groups.  Orla was no exception as several inquisitors of the ordo were present during her graduation, present as they were at all graduations to select recruits to their service.  One of these was Cosius Modon who selected her from the other graduates from her age group to join his retinue after the death of his previous assassin.

Cosius, and Balthasar since, have utilised Orla as the point of their attacks when on operations, utilising her abilities with stealth, covered by support from others such as Tobok and psychic guidance from Balthasar, to infiltrate enemy facilities and homes to bring in or kill their opponents on the worlds they visit.  Sometimes they are true enemies of the emperor such as mutants and cultists, or through their own greed or incompetence are aiding in the stagnation and decline of their worlds and the greater Imperium.

Orla's favoured weapon is her sword, the standard curved blade of her cult able to be used in one hand or two.  Without doubt the greatest close combat fighter in Balthasar's retinue, and Cosius' before, Orla is a master of taking foes by surprise through her stealth and then quickly and silently killing them with her blade.  She is also armed with backup knives and for emergencies a stubber, though she prefers the silent kill and only uses that when truly necessary.  She wears the standard garments of her cult, a black bodysuit and death mask, though on occasion she has performed missions dressed in other garb if that would aid in her infiltration, including once before that of a Commissar.

As a member of the cult of the Shadowed Blade, Orla believes that the best way to worship the Emperor is to bring death to his enemies.  She views her missions as religious crusades and the achievement of her given objectives gives her immense personal satisfaction and a feeling of religious fervour.  Although she has been instructed several times over the years how recongregation is the way to true salvation for the Imperium, for Orla she cares more about bringing death to the Emperor's enemies than the political change her actions help bring about.

Class                           WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld
Death Cult Assassin   77   53   67   53   70   58   54   75   56
Skills                           
Furious Assault, Fearsome, -20% to checks to be seen using awareness                           
Equipment                           
Stubber, sword, knife, gas mask                           

Tobok Ortys
Tobok Ortys was originally recruited by Balthasar's mentor Cosius Modon on the hive world Maligar II.  Cosius was on the trail of a heretical cardinal who had escaped Cosius and sought refuge in the underhive prior to escaping the planet. As Tobok was known among the finest bounty hunters and had on occasion performed jobs for the cardinal, he was perfectly placed to facilitate the hunt.  In a matter of days the cardinal was apprehended by Cosius' retinue and was never seen again.

As a bounty hunter Tobok is certainly a more rough and ready individual, prepared to rub shoulders with the lowest of the low in the underhive in order to track his quarry.  Well acquainted with the ways of things in such districts, and perfectly capable of handling himself in less violent parts, he is able to quickly gather information on targets through bribery, threats, violence as well as classic espionage.

Originally a member of one of the many underhive gangs, Tobok eventually left his gang behind to strike out on his own due to disagreements with the leadership and feeling he was worthy of more than they could offer.  Service with the Inquisition offers Tobok all he could dream of, being well paid, part of a team which recognises his talents and gives him the toughest challenges to overcome and quarries to hunt.

Equipped with his personalised autogun with auxiliary grenade launcher, Tobok is able to dominate any close and mid-ranged gunfight with precise semi-automatic fire as well on take on crowds with his grenade launcher.  Although not specialised in hand to hand fighting he is no slouch and is able to handle himself against the average ganger perfectly well, being armed with a brutal but effective short sword.

Tobok enjoys the thrill of the hunt, particularly the final moments when the enemy is finally engaged.  He is easily bored when not actively supporting an investigation so Balthasar and Cosius before him made sure to keep him busy.  When not gathering information himself or requisitioning supplies Balthasar often makes use of Tobok as a bodyguard when he is posing as a noble undercover.  The trappings of an underhive bounty hunter certainly help him look the part in this role, though he does get jealous when Orla gets more attention than himself when they share that role.

Lacking much in the way of a classical education, Tobok learned harsh life lessons in the underhive and as such is not a subtle conversationalist.  He is often impolite and gruff to strangers, though this is not necessarily intentional as the more refined ways of Balthasar have yet to rub off on him and it is just the way those around him behaved in the underhive. In common with many underhivers gallows humour and dark jokes or filthy one liners are a staple of his humour, particularly in battle situations.

Tobok and Orla have been engaged in an on-off relationship for a few years now, though he is clearly more interested in Orla than she is in him as romantic relationships are something she had been taught to avoid as part of her cult training. As such the relationship tends to consist of short bursts of physical intimacy before Orla pushes him away.  Although this always upsets Tobok to an extent, he always puts on a brave face and says it's all about the chase with a wry grin and a wink.

Class                   WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld
Bounty Hunter   58   74   53   58   57   64   50   72   55
Skills                           
Rock Steady Aim                           
Equipment                           
Autogun with rangefinder and auxiliary grenade launcher, two frag grenades, shortsword, flak armour on all locations except head                           


Arvold Solantor
Arvold Solantor is a Magos of the Adeptus Biologis.  As an Organicist, specifically of the Primus Humanum sect, Arvold is fascinated by the potential of the human body.  It is his ambition to study the members of the Officio Assassinorum, who he views as the pinnacle of human perfection.  Unlike most sects of the Machine Cult, Arvold and the Organicists do not believe in bionic augmentation just for the sake of it, not believing that the machine is inherently superior to the body. Indeed they view the human body itself as a perfect machine and that to remove it from themselves when not necessary is a waste. Arvold believes augmentation should only be used in the case of injury or sickness or to provide an ability that the human body would be incapable of doing. In his case Arvold retains all his limbs and organs and has installed just mechadendrites, an MIU and a brain and memory booster chip that allows him to link up to nearby machines through a noosphere.

Despite not being as mechanised as many of his counterparts within the Mechanicus and others within the Adeptus Biologis Arvold retains the classic logical nature of his kind, though not to the same extreme as some.  Arvold is still capable of feeling emotion, however he is more practical than empathetic.  He will not save someone's life through surgery to help them or because he feels moved by their suffering, but more because by keeping them alive they might serve the Imperium for longer.  As part of Balthasar's retinue this often takes the form of keeping alive captured enemies so that they might be interrogated further, or whatever other use Balthasar needs of them. He also patches up the other members of the team of course, he would not want their efficiency reduced which might put at risk their abilities to serve the Emperor and the Omnissiah by failing in a mission.

It was Balthasar's desire to keep alive captives that brought Arvold to Balthasar's team.  After an engagement with members of one of the rival factions of the new regime on Yumeia Balthasar took their gravely injured survivors to the nearest facility with advanced medical care, this being an Adeptus Biologis facility specialising in the creation of the planet's servitor units.  Arvold kept the prisoners stable and able to talk while Balthasar interrogated them, until he executed them both once they he had gained all he could from them.

Balthasar had needed to use inquisitorial authority to do this, as not just anyone can come in and be operated on by a Magos Biologis.  Arvold had felt unfilfilled at this facility, feeling servitors were a sub-standard version of the human form.  Understanding what Balthasar was and sensing the opportunity to perform more fulfilling work, Arvold offered Balthasar his services on a permanent basis.  After this point Arvold was put to great use by Balthasar for the remainder of his time on Yumeia, being able to shut down the security of the base of the final opposition to the new Praxatea governor, enabling Balthasar's retinue and the Adeptus Arbites to wipe them out much more easily.

Class             WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld
Tech-Priest   41   51   51   62   71   75   81   61   72
Skills                           
Medic, Machine Empathy, +20% to manipulate machinery                           
Equipment                           
Halberd, Psi-booster, MIU, mechadendrites, shoulder mounted Mars pattern lasgun, medi-pack, laspistol      


Thanks in advance for any comments and helpful critiques    :)                  
Title: Re: Recongregator warband of Inquisitor Balthasar
Post by: MarcoSkoll on October 08, 2019, 06:25:45 AM
Sorry for taking a while to getting around to looking at this.

As far as Balthasar, the only significant background point I would bring up is his age:

QuoteAs a psyker Balthasar was taken from his homeworld Azuno III as a young child to train in the Scholastica Psykana on Terra.
Balthasar was part of Cosius' retinue for twelve years
In the eight years since [promotion to Inquisitor]
Being only 39 standard years old, Balthasar is young by the standards of most Inquisitors

Given that sanctioning does indeed take you to Terra, it's a long trip; the Dark Heresy RPG suggests that sanctioning is usually a 10-20 year ordeal that can't be started particularly young, so being sanctioned by ~19yrs would be pretty unusual. Not unknown, but pretty unusual.

(There are a couple of special traits in DH where a character can prove to be a psyker in later life, and these characters can be sanctioned in only a few years, but here we're talking about presumably already valuable Inquisition agents who likely already have character traits that would make expediting their training more practical).

As far as 39, that's not particularly young for an Inquisitor. Promotion at 31 would be a bit more unusual*, but the world of the Inquisition is exceptionally brutal. The huge majority of Inquisitors will die in their first decade - while at any given time, quite a lot of Inquisitors may be centuries old, they are a minority of those who were originally promoted. (Statistics can get pretty odd when survivor bias comes into it (https://i.imgur.com/2HEhOxk.jpg)).

* You will see mention of younger Inquisitors in some novels, but IMO, when you have trillions of people to pick from, and the capacity to live for centuries, you don't have to rush picking your apprentice; why pick someone before they've really matured?

Other than that, it's pretty good; I like the concept of him using his telepathy somewhat passively in his political manipulations - not directly controlling people, but working out who is most easily manipulated to his ends.
            
QuoteStubber with ten dumdums
If there's one problem I have with the Creating a Monster article, its suggestions on ammo are pretty stingy. We're talking about someone with the authority to shatter planets; unless it's seriously rare ammo, they'll be able to get hold of as much as they really want, so they should be able to carry enough to get them through a minor fire-fight.

~~~~

Orla:

QuoteThe cult of the Shadowed Blade has a graduation or coming of age ceremony when its members reach eighteen.  They must go out into the planet's underhive and kill a certain named target.  This target is never a simple individual man but a far more worthy target.
It's an interesting idea.

I find myself wondering about the people on the other side of the tradition (i.e. likely targets) and how they react and respond to such a threat. How well known is this tradition (and, to a lesser extent, how often do they actually succeed)?
                     
QuoteFearsome
This is the only real quibble I have with the profile.

Fearsome, with how it works in the rules, should be for characters that are blatantly obviously combat monsters or who have horrific auras of dread.
It's something I would give to hugely augmented pit fighters, Space Marines, Orks, Eversor Assassins, and Daemons.

An opponent should never be surprised that a character has Fearsome. It's a roleplaying game, your opponent should know that their character is scared, not suddenly find out mid-charge.
In fact, as a gamesmaster, I'm not beyond temporary granting characters Fearsome if they do something sufficiently brutal, and completely overruling it if a player suddenly springs it on the game. (If, for whatever reason, a character is actually that scary, but it's difficult to convey on the model, that is information that the player should be offering the moment it would be apparent).

~~~~~

Moving on to Tobok:

QuoteBS 74
I'm wary of letting BS values get this high, as it's the one stat in the game that can easily have multiple +20 bonuses stacked on it (aka "aiming").

QuoteRock Steady Aim
Autogun with rangefinder and auxiliary grenade launcher, two frag grenades, shortsword, flak armour on all locations except head
To be honest, his skills and gear don't entirely convince me he's a bounty hunter rather than just a mercenary.

While it's entirely reasonable that he goes for "kill" rather than "capture" bounties, I would expect him to have a bit more that implied that he was a manhunter; perhaps something like Deadeye Shot so he can place his shots to still have a recognisable corpse, a chain-knife for cutting off bits to prove his kill and, if nothing else, an auspex would be pretty useful when trying to track a man.

~~~~~

And now to Arvold Solantor...

QuoteUnlike most sects of the Machine Cult, Arvold and the Organicists do not believe in bionic augmentation just for the sake of it, not believing that the machine is inherently superior to the body. Indeed they view the human body itself as a perfect machine and that to remove it from themselves when not necessary is a waste. Arvold believes augmentation should only be used in the case of injury or sickness or to provide an ability that the human body would be incapable of doing.
I'm a little surprised that with how they feel about the Temple Assassins that they don't put credence into biological/organic (rather than mechanical) augmentation.

QuoteMachine Empathy, Psi-booster
His background doesn't really seem to mention any psychic ability, and while it wouldn't be unknown for a tech-priest to either have psychic ability or replicate similar feats through augmentation, this feels a bit like it's jumping out of nowhere, particularly if his main interest is the "organic machine".

~~~~~

And, in general:
QuoteAlthough I have created D&D characters before I never went to this depth with them, and only ever had to create one character at a time, not needing to think how four characters work together, so this is something new to me. As i mentioned there are aspects of each of the characters I want to develop further, however I thought now would be a good time to post them so I can check they are heading in a good direction first.
No, it's looking pretty good.

Inquisitor can be a daunting experience if you're not used to deciding on a group's character dynamics yourself, but that is also one of its fairly unique charms when you get used to it.
Title: Re: Recongregator warband of Inquisitor Balthasar
Post by: SiderosPeltarion on October 08, 2019, 08:27:48 PM
Thanks for your feedback MarkoSkoll, its very helpful!

With Balthasar thats an interesting point about the age thing, I can easily add a few years on him, like you say inquisitors can be hundreds of years old so being somewheree in his 40s is still fairly youthful.  I had not read that it takes that long as I haven't got the DH book unfortunately, but even then it would make sense given the size of the Imperium too.  My idea with being youngish was that I wanted someone who still had plenty of room to grow in terms of personality and experience over time, who may even develop or adjust his philosophy if he is challenged on it or sees it failing, though that would be a long term character development thing.

Regarding his character, thanks for the comment. It was an idea I thought would suit an inquisitor of his style and beliefs. Recoongregators are not always the most popular within the Inquisition so thought it made sense for him, particularly being a telepath.  I have started on the model for him already and have removed any inquisitorial insignia as I figure that would only come out at last resort.

On the ammo situation I did have similar thoughts and meant to say in my post that its a bit stingy, only one mag per person etc. Will add some reloads where I think best. Maybe 2 for Tobok as a gunner and one for the others.

With Orla, its a good thing to think about actually how well known the cult is, success rate etc like you mentioned. I think it is an area I would like to expand on perhaps, as I menitoned what I posted is kind of concepts rather than full ideas for the most part, though some bits were more fleshed out than others.

With fearsome I am not tied to it necessarily so if you think best to remove it. I rolled it up as per the article and felt a death cultist could be pretty fearsome coming out of a shadow a metre away, but can easily take it off.  As I mentioned I am in your hands on this  :)
I like your ruling on temporary fearsome in game, that could be good to see happen and could make sense. Maybe someone is suddenly clearly possessed or whatever.

For Tobok if you think the BS needs a nudge down I can do so, again its just what the dice came out with. Would 69 (-5) be better? 64?  The way I figure him hes started out as a bring them back dead or mostly dead sort of bounty hunter, which is why Balthasar would probably appreciate Arvold's skills so much.  Good points on kit though, those things would make sense for someone of his nature so will add them on, or look into similar items. I will also have a futher ponder on his general kit and make sure it is where I want him to go as a character, you do have a point on him looking like a mercenary and it may be I take him more in that direction after all.  My character concepts are still fairly fluid at this stage, though the idea of being a bounty hunter and the skills it would involve where what initially hooked me.

On Arvold biological augmentation as opposed to mechanical is something that they are more in favour of according to the bits I have read.  Which is why I figured he would be intrerested in the possibility of studying the assassins.  I admit the Mechanicus and Biologis are two areas where I am less familiar with the detailed philosophies but I found the concept of the character to be to my liking. I want to do further reading on the area and perhaps adjust his philosophy/drives slightly as his background was probably the hardest for me to do to.

Machine Empathy came about again due to the article as Mechanicus sage characters get it. The way I figured it in my head was that it was less true psychic power and more online hacking sort of thing. It was more somehting I figured I would use on cogitator controlled units like gates and turrets than on lasguns etc. I figured the psi-booster was then more of a mental cpu booster/internet connection.  That way I thought he would be the ideal backfield hacker and medic character who can defend himself from average Joes but not from a dedicated fighter.  Again if you think it would work better without one or both of the booster and Machine Empathy I will happily defer to your judgement. I want my team to fit in to the right standard used by Conclave members so whatever you say goes is good by me  ;)

In terms of machine control coming out of nowhere as he is biology focused the way I was thinking came from a couple of areas. Firstly if he spends his time building and programming servitors thats surely computer style work to an extent right? I know the point of servitors is to avoid AI but there must be some programming there I would have thought, though correct me if I'm wrong.  Same also with use of bionics. Although his sect are against machine augmentation for the sake of it they are not against it outright and so he will have been exposed to that aspect I would expect.  Lastly when thinking of his upbringing and training I was thinking of the characters I knew who were Mechanicus themed and there aren't many admittedly! The one thing that came back to me was Belisarius Cawl as I remember in one of the Horus Heresy books, cant remember which where he talks about constantly shifting his specialism and going through mentors and fields etc, making him a master of all aspects of knowledge in his opinion. Its been a while so can't remember the specifics but that was definitely the feeling I got from him and I thought something along those lines, though to a lesser extent would make some sense that a magos character might have studied more than one area before finding his specialism. I would expect someone within the Mechanicus, even a Biologis would learn more than one aspect, particularly when two areas connect like the sort of augmentations he would likely have such as mind boosters and programming for servitors.

Like I mentioned the Mechanicus is an area I am less well versed in so if his background and skills don't mesh well I am happy to adjust as needed. In this case though I would probably shift his background rather than his party role as the role was what I started with and a mechanicus character was more like the third iteration of the character, though one I found interesting to research and create.

Thanks again for your comments, they really are helpful for me to refine my thoughts on the characters as well as their stats and kit.  I will think further on them and update the team a bit more.  I'm glad my initial ideas seem to be well received and sounds like they just need refinement rather than a complete re-write which is a relief! I admit once I finished writing them up I already started getting thoughts of the next warband concept popping into my head, its quite a fun process and challenging!
Title: Re: Recongregator warband of Inquisitor Balthasar
Post by: MarcoSkoll on October 11, 2019, 01:33:36 AM
Quote from: SiderosPeltarion on October 08, 2019, 08:27:48 PMI had not read that it takes that long as I haven't got the DH book unfortunately, but even then it would make sense given the size of the Imperium too.
The DH books are pretty good sources of lore, being the spiritual successor to Inquisitor; I wouldn't consider them absolutely infallible of lore, but they've got a lot of good ideas in them. (Unfortunately though, it was a few weeks ago that the PDFs were all on sale over at Humble Bundle).

QuoteMy idea with being youngish was that I wanted someone who still had plenty of room to grow in terms of personality and experience over time, who may even develop or adjust his philosophy if he is challenged on it or sees it failing, though that would be a long term character development thing.
That's entirely justifiable. There's nothing wrong with an Inquisitor being young (and that will indeed often suggest many things about their ethos), it's just that young is a relative term for the mighty and powerful of the Imperium.

It's often worth thinking about them in political terms, as that is actually where a lot of their power lies. As much as they nominally have limitless authority, their real power is about their connections; an Inquisitor who has a long running bond with one of the sector's high admirals is obviously going to be able to call in the heavy firepower much more easily than one who has no-one to back him up as a threat if a ship's captain refuses to obey him.

And it takes years to build up political power; of 55 Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, only five have been under 40 years old when first elected. The US Presidency has a minimum age of 35, but the youngest (Theodore Roosevelt) was still 42 years (and most of 11 months) old when first elected.

Over an entire galaxy, ten thousand years, and a few cases of nepotism, there will obviously be a few people who manage it early, but I'm going to disagree with Dan Abnett on whether Eisenhorn was likely to have been promoted at the age of 24; he'd have had little practical power with so few connections, and I can't see the necessary three Inquisitors staking their reputations on someone relatively unproven.

QuoteOn the ammo situation I did have similar thoughts and meant to say in my post that its a bit stingy, only one mag per person etc. Will add some reloads where I think best. Maybe 2 for Tobok as a gunner and one for the others.
Generally, a good rule of thumb for gear is a WYSIWYG approach; a case of whether the character could have a grenade shoved in that pocket, or a couple of magazines in that pouch.

Although GW's models do take a few liberties with proportion (particularly the 28mm scale models), if you can reasonably justify where the character keeps their spare ammo, then do so. It can also help add visual interest to the models to actually think about such things.

QuoteWith Orla, its a good thing to think about actually how well known the cult is, success rate etc like you mentioned. I think it is an area I would like to expand on perhaps, as I menitoned what I posted is kind of concepts rather than full ideas for the most part, though some bits were more fleshed out than others.
That's frequently a problem with character backgrounds; so many different bits and pieces that you just want to spin off and explore.

I've been having a similar problem with a science-fantasy story of my own; every time I start actually developing the story, I keep getting distracted by cool ideas for how the setting works.

QuoteI rolled it up as per the article
While the article has some good ideas about the power level of characters, the community has with time moved further from the idea of random character generation.

Random does not inherently mean balanced (in fact, it pretty much guarantees that the character is not perfectly balanced), and ultimately a well intentioned player can create something more consistent and fairer than some dice can. (Although it may take some experience and some refinement to completely refine the formula). Many players will also have a specific idea in their head that the dice just don't want to agree with.

That's not to say that random generation is necessarily a bad idea; sometimes it can make you think of ideas you wouldn't otherwise. But it's something you should be prepared to go over with a red pen.

Quoteand felt a death cultist could be pretty fearsome coming out of a shadow a metre away, but can easily take it off.
It might be pretty alarming, but Fearsome doesn't really play like that in game. Fearsome characters are really physical intimidation incarnate.

I've often read character sheets to the effect of "He's got really nasty scars, so he's got Fearsome" - but an opponent being a bit ugly doesn't particularly seem like something that a combat hardened Imperial Guard veteran is likely to be stopped in his tracks by; not in the same way he'd think twice about getting close to a chrono gladiator or arco-flagellant.

Is a death cultist coming out of the shadows scary? Yes, definitely, but probably not enough of a fright to stop someone considering fighting them.

QuoteWould 69 (-5) be better? 64?
If the intention is that he's a very good shot, then 69 would be pretty good at representing that; 64 is still very good, just a little more restrained.

Not to say that a character can't have a BS value over 70, but I'd usually also take the character's equipment into account as well; a high BS is going to be less dramatic if the character has a comparatively short ranged pistol than if they have a longer ranged rifle.

QuoteMachine Empathy came about again due to the article as Mechanicus sage characters get it. The way I figured it in my head was that it was less true psychic power and more online hacking sort of thing.
Well, the benefit to a game like Inquisitor is that you don't have to do "counts-as" rules.

I've seen quite a few Mechanicus characters who have got various wireless arrays and the like that they can use to remotely interface with machinery, but rather than something that makes them a psyker (which has a lot of rules debris - it allows their power to be nullified, lets them nullify other psykers, means that many weapons and attacks will do bonus damage against them, etc), it's entirely possible to say "Character can wirelessly interface with machinery with a -1 penalty to any tests required for each yard of distance".

QuoteIn terms of machine control coming out of nowhere as he is biology focused the way I was thinking came from a couple of areas.
It is perfectly normal for a Biologis to have also studied the mechanical sciences; they're not merely a Medicae or a Hospitalier, but they instead delve heavily into the field of medical engineering; although some sects of the Biologis may tend more towards the organic side, they are still a part of the Adeptus Mechanicus as a whole, and their methodology will more treat the body as a machine than as a living thing.

QuoteI'm glad my initial ideas seem to be well received and sounds like they just need refinement rather than a complete re-write which is a relief!
They are pretty well rationalised.

QuoteI admit once I finished writing them up I already started getting thoughts of the next warband concept popping into my head, its quite a fun process and challenging!
Been there, done that. I've got more ideas for characters and stories than I could ever reasonably explore.